Council approves building plans for Casey's General Store

Wednesday, August 31, 2011By Lindsay Reed

The Cassville City Council approved the building and site plans for Casey's General Store at a special meeting on Aug. 29. The new convenience store will be constructed west of Flat Creek X-Press Lube on Main Street in Cassville.

"We are excited to welcome Casey's back to Cassville," said Mayor Tracy Holle. "The city's economic development office and Casey's have worked for over three years toward this announcement.

"They worked together to locate a property that would fit Casey's needs and be acceptable to neighboring property owners and businesses," said Holle. "This is important economically to Cassville and the city's master plan for development along the Main Street corridor."

Jeff Meadows, of CM Archer Group, an engineering and surveying firm from St. James, represented Casey's at the meeting. Meadows said that the 3,720-square-foot store will reflect the company's new look.

Meadows also said that corporate officials with Casey's, which is based in Des Moines, Iowa, asked him to express that the company is pleased to return to the community. Casey's last operated a store in Cassville in 1999.

"We've had several Casey's executives express a desire to come back to Cassville over the years, but they were having difficulty finding the right site," said Holle. "Our economic development team has been persistent in staying in front of Casey's until the right property was found."

The Cassville Planning and Zoning Commission approved Casey's building and site plans on Aug. 25. The commission also reviewed a hydrology study that indicated the building project would have no negative impact on surrounding residential and business properties. The study was completed by Allgeier, Martin and Associates, Inc.

Casey's General Stores offer a breakfast and lunch menu and a broad range of other food and non-food items. The convenience stores also offer self-serve gasoline. Cassville's store will likely offer nine gasoline pumps.

Casey's, which was founded in 1959, operates over 1,600 stores across the country, including around 300 in Missouri. The local store will add between 18 and 25 new jobs in Cassville.

During the meeting, the aldermen also voted to withdraw from the MOPEG health insurance consortium. The city entered the consortium several years ago in order to save on health insurance premium costs.

On Aug. 15, Noelle Harmon, deputy city clerk, requested approval to obtain health insurance bids for city employees in order to determine if the city's continued participation in the consortium was the best option for employees.

"After reviewing the insurance rate proposals, there are plans that were submitted that closely match the present insurance coverage and offer significant cost savings to the city," said Harmon. "It is my recommendation that the City of Cassville withdraw from participation from the MOPEG group."

Harmon plans to bring detailed information on the health insurance proposals to the council's next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 6. She has estimated that the city will see a $24,000 to $28,000 per year cost savings under a new health insurance policy.

In other business, the council voted to voluntarily roll back the tax levy to zero. Cassville's tax rate ceiling is 0.3928, but the city elects not to charge a property tax.